Comic Type

Dave Gorman

Date Of Birth: 02/03/1971

Dave Gorman started stand-up in 1990, when still a teenager, after dropping out of his mathematics course at Manchester University. But it took five years for him to start gaining recognition, hosting both the Comedy Zone showcase at the Edinburgh Fringe and appearing on Granada's Stand-up Show in 1995. Writing work began to come in, and he worked on Jenny Eclair Squats, The Fast Show and the Mrs Merton Show.

In 1998, he performed his first solo show, Reasons To Be Cheerful, deconstructing the lyrics of the Ian Dury song, which he followed the next year with Better World, in which he asked local newspaper readers how he could improve the world, then acted n their suggestions. This documentary-style show came into its own in 2000's Are You Dave Gorman? in which, egged on by flatmate Danny Wallace, he travelled the world to try to find 52 namesakes.

Are You Dave Gorman? was nominated for the Perrier award, and won the HBO Comedy Jury Award for Best One Person Show at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen Colorado. It was subsequently made into a BBC Two series, The Dave Gorman Collection, and a successful book.

His second TV series, also broadcast on BBC Two, was Dave Gorman's Important Astrology Experiment, a cod-scientific test to see if he could improve his love, health, and wealth over six episodes if he followed his horoscopes. His twin brother Nick, completely ignored the astrologers, so acted as a control.

In 2003, he embarked on another bizarre quest; this time tracking down people responsible for Googlewhacks - web pages that contain a unique pairing of words, so they are the only result returned when you type the phrase into the search engine. The show, which virtually drove him to a nervous breakdown, started at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, transferred to Edinburgh and a UK tour, and again spawned a bestselling book as well as a live DVD.

Since 2005, Gorman has also hosted the Radio 4 show Genius, in which members of the public submit their brilliant ideas to be put to the test, which transferred to BBC Two in 2009. He has also starred in Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, a show showing a behind-the-scenes view of a fictional comedy panel game, as himself.

In 2007, he released his documentary feature film, America Unchained, in which he tried to cross America without using chain restaurants, hotels or gas stations. Again, a book accompanied the film.

In 2009, he announced a return to more traditional stand-up - but cycling between the 32 venues in his UK tour.

Reviews

Dave Gorman Gets Straight To The Point* (*The Powerpoint)

Dave Gorman’s been industrious of late, pumping out 14 hour-long episodes of PowerPoint-fuelled stand-up for the TV station that bears his forename in as many months; not to mention a new book, and this very tour, which is very similar in pedantic tone, although different in content, to what’s recently been on the small screen.

That’s an awful lot of material, and this show sometimes has the feel of a man stretching a point as much as getting to it, as the title promises. That is, of course, is an essential part of Gorman’s MO: to strip apart the most minor of inane irritations from the internet era with needless forensic vigour – using graphs if necessary - to make his point more conclusively than anyone could ever want.

Yet sometimes the balance goes too far in favour of overegging the pudding. MailOnline misunderstanding the words ‘selfie’ or ‘photobomb’, for example, seem more suited to a sarcastic tweet than an overblown routine that doesn’t really offer too many unexpected twists. And saying the wrong thing when your partner invites you to suggest a fantasy shag has often been done as a one-liner… which is still the punchline of Gorman’s routine after going around the houses.

He’s better when plucking apart things we hadn’t noticed, such as the logical flaws in the familiar song which opens the show, or when making a slightly more incisive point behind all the frippery. How emoji’s can’t possibly capture the nuance of real human emotion, for instance, gives an edge about modern communication to what would otherwise be a straightforward ‘my mum doesn’t understand Twitter’ routine.

For all his love of technology, Gorman’s got analogue sensibilities too, and gets nostalgic over the thousands of acquired photographic slides he has in his collection, both more tangible and more meaningfully organised than the often bizarre results of Google Image search. A keen photo buff, he’s got mixed feeling about the deluge of pictures now being taken and uploaded every second - but he’s got a very funny answer to those who feel they need to Instagram this very gig.

He’s replaced found transparencies with his ‘found poetry’ - the blank verse culled from the comments sections of news websites which he has made his own. ‘You wouldn’t believe the amount of rubbish I have to wade through to get that,’ he comments after an entertaining few stanzas about Paul Hollywood. But we do believe him, his research is nothing but thorough… and we have seen the bottom half of the internet before.

The web also gives him tools for pranks, and the show ends with an extended routine that kinda targets those desperate to get on TV, but not quite, since Gorman’s too nice a guy to mock the shortcomings of those who have that ambition. It’s a labyrinthine practical joke that winds up with accessions of knee theft – a felon-knee, perhaps it should be called – more enjoyable for the meandering ride than its destination.

There are plenty of laughs across the show, often from Gorman’s perfectly-judged reveals, suddenly altering the tone of a rant, while his well-meaning zeal for the issues he targets, however seemingly trivial, cannot be faulted, and he certainly knows how to share his passion. That would be a big slice in the pie-chart of his appeal, even if there’s a bit too much flannel at times..

Support came from Nick Doody: appropriately geeky for the Gorman gang and with some bitingly funny lines – yet teasing the audience into vacillating between liking him and being uncertain, thanks to his pointedly provocative set-ups.

Comments

Older Comments

DOJ - 14/05/2020

This guy is the Coldplay of comedy. Pure and utter genius.

Sean Prower - 09/03/2010

What a five star performance Gorman delivers. previous shows, we have seen him talk about his childish antics, bets, games and pranks. That is the carefree, innocent child in him that we all secretly strive to embrace. Many of us do know Gorman is an intelligent man what with his theories, lexicon and ability to construct engrossing and captivating events. When he is kind-hearted and courteous he is one of the loveliest men you could ever wish to meet, but when he gets wound up by something, no matter how diminutivet, the rage excels to a state where the gauge snaps. Laughter courses hard through the audience like the blood pumps furiously through his veins. Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop and Stand Up is a flawless show which should not be ignored. If you love comedy and have not seen this, you’ve just lost your reputation as a connoisseur.

Norbert - 15/02/2010

The new (well, newest) tour is very much a show of two halves. The first is uncomfortable, predictable and slightly boring. The second comes alive as Dave moves on to more familiar territory – of which he requested we don’t discuss on mediums such as this (sorry). The best comedians seem to be people that you like and engage and although Dave does have real talent, he makes that very difficult by being quite arrogant. I came away wishing I had seen this show in a pub rather than a concert hall and that it had started at the interval.

Mandy Allan - 05/01/2010

The guy is the Coldplay of comedy. Derivative'Diceman' antics - although former pal Danny Wallace nicked that idea outright for 'Yes Man' - he is a polished speaker, but it is clear he is a born-too-late Tomorrow's World presenter, whose navel-gazing 'America Unchained' was unwatchable, middle class sanctimony. Much lke the unlistenable middle-class sanctimony of Coldplay.

Duncan - 20/09/2009

Watched Googlewhack - wish someone had whacked him in the face with a hammer. What a twat! Why speak when shouting will OBVIOUSLY get your point across and make you seem 100 per cent funnier.

Richie - 16/03/2009

LOL @ coldplay comment - the only similarity is that they are both inexplicably popular. I'm not really a fan of either. We saw him at the Frank Skinner credit crunch gig and wasn't much cop - I've never seen him do 'stand up' before and only seen him on screen. Whilst his command of the stage is in no doubt , the material was hovering towards mediocrity , and I couldn't get over his contrived , somewhat 'zany' act I'd seen previously on DVD, which the stand up does move away from, admittedly. I read he's not been doing stand-up as such for very long, so maybe it will get better but he was just average. Can't complain for a tenner though as the rest of the show was great.

Beth - 02/03/2009

Really quite average and beyond the ever present gimmicks, there's not a lot of substance there.

Alaric Dynevor, Comedy Cellar, Hudderrsfield - 25/02/2008

The Coldplay of Comedy. I bet Dave is delighted with that.

richie - 05/02/2008

Smug, bland, self-satisfied wanker.

Leo Edwards - 12/03/2007

Desperately unfunny with an element of OCD

Sophie - 06/03/2007

I saw his Googlewhack show on TV - it was a clever idea and funny in parts, but at times got boring and needed more variety. Overall I'd give him a 6/10 and wouldn't pay to see him.

Maggie - 12/09/2006

A monumental bore.

Darren E - 11/08/2006

This man has a wonderful brain. The comedy part of it is either not working or not there.

Jill Baike - 25/04/2005

Saw his Googlewhack show in Edinburgh -what an amazing show

Steph - 29/01/2005

I had not heard of Dave Gorman until I watched Googlewhack Adventure. I've not laughed so much in ages

Tricia Hollings - 28/01/2005

A clever, funny man.

Dan Poupier - 20/12/2004

Is there anything more anal than meticulously following some pointless hypothesis whilst sporting the most desperatley contrived facial hair in the world?

Alex - 08/06/2004

Dave is great, not what I was expecting but well observed material without having to resort to worn out comedic ideas. A good storyteller, who makes you laugh at real life.

Leo Edwards - 17/05/2004

Saw Reasons To Be Cheerful in Nov 2002 in Liverpool. Unfortunately, such a boring topic of analyising song lyrics proved to be equally boring as comedy. The audience laughed about twice throughout the whole performance.

Alex Daniels - 14/05/2004

You either you love him or you hate him. And every sane person loves him! He IS the funniest person ever. I saw Googlewack last night and have never laughed so hard in my life.

Pets - 11/04/2004

He reckons he's so wacky and these things just happen to him.. he is boring and arrogant

Dan - 28/02/2004

Saw his recent Are You Dave Gorman and Googlewhack Adventure, both of which were stunningly surreal and funny. He manages to transfer all the humor to both the books as well. Hes a great performer and not a bad writer either.

Tina - 26/02/2004

I think he's dull. I remebmer his show in which he traced his namesakes - innovative maybe tediius definately, I switched it off.

Beside The Seaside - 18/02/2004

This lad is just brilliant. You think he's funny on TV- wait til you see him live. An absolute joy. The show had me crying with laughter and biting my nails about the outcome. And a well deserved best seller- is there any end to his talents? Excellent.

Chantelle Barley - 08/02/2004

Absolutely ace.

Craig Woods - 03/02/2004

Saw Googlewhack in London, and enjoyed it so much that I went to see it again the month after. Not a stand-up, but a great storyteller.

Chris Grant - 12/01/2004

Saw Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure in the Guildhall in Southampton last year. Had a fantastic evening. He's not a stand-up comic as such, though a few asides that evening did hit the mark; but the scripting was tight, the story hilarious and the passion evident. Disappointed, though, when he swore us to secrecy over a tattoo and then announced it a few weeks later on the Frank Skinner show (where the interview was essentially a 15 minute version of the stage show).